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Riches of Bronze Age ‘griffin warrior’ shine light on earliest European civilizations

Oct. 27, 2015

Archaeologists have uncovered gold rings, jewels, and seals from the grave of a warrior laid to rest around 3500 years ago on the southwest coast of Greece, The New York Times reports. The “griffin warrior,” so called because he was buried with a bronze sword and a griffin-embossed ivory plaque, was Mycenaean, hailing from the world of Homer’s epics and one of Europe’s oldest civilizations. But his possessions are in the style of an even older civilization, the Minoans. Researchers say the artifacts show how the Minoans’ culture spread from the island of Crete even as their society fell to Mycenaean power.